The X-Project

Logs backdated to October 6 & 7th respectively.

Clarice & Marie go spelunking for ribbons and bond over general life. Also, Tommy & Yvette are briefly discussed.



"Hey!" Clarice called from the floor, a box of ribbons strewn around her and she inspected what she had. "Do you think this is too fru-fru?" she held up a thick lacey pink ribbon critically.

"It would depend on what it went with," Marie responded, making her way over to Clarice. Folding into a sitting position, she picked up a dark blue ribbon and twirled it around her gloved finger.

"Mmm," Clarice had a series of fabric swatches laid out by one leg, "Well, I was thinking about fashion gloves. I was making a bunch for Yvette and I thought you might want some too."

"Really? That would be so great! Ah have a place where Ah get them fitted, but…well, it’s not like what Ah know you could do." She began pawing through the fabric and ribbons with renewed interest. "You know, it’s really great what you’ve done for Yvette. When Ah went to check on her, she was so excited about
the colored gloves Ms. Clarice had made for her,” she said with a wink.

Clarice groaned, "I keep telling her not to call me "miss" but she does anyways. I'm glad she likes them though, it's different making clothing that changes someones life instead of just a skirt or something. Like shirts for Warren or Jay or gloves for you guys. It's not just clothing, you know?" she continued pawing through the box, unearthing some Rainbow Brite printed ribbon. "This is for Yvette."

"Cute! She’ll love it, though you may have to explain who Rainbow Brite is. And you’re right, it isn’t just clothing. It’s something to make us all feel more…normal, or at least able to be around normal folks." All but squealing in delight, Marie held up a teal lace ribbon in one hand and a ribbon with
charms dangling off it in the other. "These ones are for me."

"Awesome!" that was some very cute ribbon and Clarice dug out a spool of teal beads to go with the ribbon, "You have some gloves you want to donate to the ribbon? I don't want to make you gloves if I don't have to, it's much easier to modify them than to create them from scratch."

"Do Ah have gloves?" she said with a laugh. "Ah think Ah can manage a few pairs. What colors do you think would go best?"

"Your gloves, your outfits," Clarice shrugged, "I'm going to the store with Tommy later today, I can get stuff if you want. The teal would be really nice and the charms."

"With Tommy?" Marie said in surprise. "Ah can’t remember the last time Ah saw him leave campus."

Clarice didn't keep up with Tommy's comings and goings, "I think we're going shopping in College Park though. I offered to take him so he wouldn't have to be here..." she trailed off, now that she didn't really hate him (forgive was another matter, but he was working on that it seemed like) she was willing to help him. She couldn't imagine almost being killed by her so-called friends and then having to see them around town again. Way uncool.

Marie nodded, a half smile on her face. "Good to know," she said, continuing to pick through the ribbon and cloth. "So how's school going?" she asked as she set aside a piece of green silk.

"Pretty good, harder than here. Hate o-chem, but it's a weedout class, so whatever," Clarice fiddled with a tray of buttons, "You should come out some time, it's pretty fun."

Marie wrinkled her nose at the mention of class. "Ah'm glad Ah get to take chem for jocks. Ah hate it enough as is." Finally satisfied with her pile of tidbits, she stacked them neatly before leaning back to relax. "Don't know when Ah'd have time to visit. Things seem to stay busy here, between class and the
kids." Rolling her eyes, she added "Not to mention team stuff."

"Team stuff and school are my two big things that might make my brain explode. But brains everywhere are so declasse," Clarice wrinkled her nose at the idea, she was trying very, very hard to not get behind in either and it left her almost no time for anything else. At least, as a trainee, she didn't go on too many missions which helped. Some.

"Ah just can't wait until Ah show up for class one day and have to explain to a professor that my paper got eaten by a demon." She smiled at Clarice. "Too bad Ah'm not taking a creative writing class. Bet Ah'd have lots of fodder and would be complimented on my active imagination and ability to create fiction."

Laughing, Clarice began putting her things away, "We haven't had a demon attack in like, a year? More? I mean, damn, no wonder the newbies don't believe us. I wouldn't believe it except I had the bruises to prove it at the time!"

"Yeah, that's what makes it ok to joke about. 's why Ah don't joke about going evil or being kidnapped in quite the same way." She brushed a white strand of hair out of her eyes, tucking it carefully behind her ear. "Thanks again Pixie."


Clarice lives up to her promise to take Tommy out shopping for Yvette's birthday. It's...a strained shopping experience but they don't kill each other. Progress is made.



Clarice knocked quietly on Tommy's door, she was trying not to be nervous, but it was difficult. She had barely spoken to the boy since he had arrived, although she had good reason not to and he had (less) good reason to avoid her. Commenting on the journals didn't count, it was easy to say things on the journals, it was less easy to do things face to face. However, she had offered to take him to the store and she was going to do it. She did what she said.

Tommy took a deep breath before he opened his door, knowing who would be on the otherside. He hadn't exactly been pleasent in any dealings with Clarice since he'd come to the mansion...but the rhino she had given him when he had been in the medlab was one of his few personal posscessions and currently was sitting on his desk. Not to mention, he had to steal himself for his second trip out of the mansion in a year. Things always come in a bang for Tommy it seemed.

Finally, he opened the door, with a small, unsure smile. "Hi."

"Hey," Clarice smiled, "You ready? I figured you'd want to go somewhere not in Westchester, right? I mean..." she stopped talking. She babbled a little when she was excited or nervous and there was no way to end that sentence without pissing him off. "Or we can stay in town. I'm flexible."

"Out of town would be best." Was Tommy's frank answer. He'd rather not stay anywhere near the mansion, just in case. She looked nervous, something that he'd expected from people from the very beginning. After last week...it was kind of disconcerting. "You don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do," Clarice said, vehemently. "You are making an effort to be nice, not just to Yvette, but to everyone except Kyle and he's a dorkface. As far as I know, you are not being punished and it's about damn time we stopped pretending like you'll go away if we ignore you hard enough. That's stupid. And we're not going away either. So let's go and have some fun!"

Wonderful, she was one of those people who still thought he hated them because they were mutants. He guessed that everyone, except Kyle, was too much to hope for. But he couldn't help but give a small sigh. Tommy had a feeling Clarice was going to lecture him more then once today. And he really hated the lectures."Yeah, okay. So where are we going? Just a general craft store is fine, really."

"Garden Ridge, it's a general craft store," she opened a disk to send them back to her dorm, they could walk from there, "But it's huge. I need ribbons and things, too." She signed internally, from his attitude she must have said something stupid again. She wasn't trying to lecture him or change his mind, it was just hard.

The teleporting was a bit odd, as was appearing in a dorm. The looks he was getting from Clarice's dorm mates were a bit...revealing. God, before the mansion he would have ate this up. "Yeah, okay." he repilied, slightly distracted.

"Hi, bye!" Clarice waved at her roommates, heading out the door. They weren't used to her teleporting, but they hadn't actively complained about having a mutant roommate either. And she cleaned her hair out of the shower drain when she showered. "It's not Xavier's," she commented, pointing out posters declaring "get drunk, get a mullet! no drinking if you're under 21" and advertisements for various clubs and get-togethers. "but it's not bad, either."

Tommy looked around at the walls, if anything to not look at the girls surrounding him. "Yeah, it looks...nice."

"You sound thrilled," Clarice turned, stopping in the hallway. "You don't have to pretend to like it if you don't. I mean, don't be someone you're not to make me happy, okay? I'd like to meet the real Tommy...then decide if I hate him or not."

"Christ Clarice, this is the second time I've been out of the mansion in a fucking year." He said softly, clearly strained. "Don't you think I'm going to be a little uncomfortable?" He really didn't want to mention that he didn't know how the real Tommy was anymore.

Why?" she asked, pretending to be puzzled, "For the most part, you chose not to leave. Or is it because of me? Afraid of what people might think if they see us together?" it was a low blow, but she was getting pissed. Taking a deep breath she tried to calm down, "That was unfair, sorry. Let's just get going, okay?"

It was a good thing Tommy bit his tongue because he very much wanted to blurt out 'It's not fucking about you!' It was being around so many people, especially female people, that he didn't know. He was still getting used to being around the people in the mansion as something other then a self imposed outcast, this was a bit much. Instead he opted for a deep breath. "Please, could we?"

Clarice smiled, leading him down the crowded street, "Yvette is going to love the jewelry," she said, choosing a neutral conversation topic, "They should have someone who knows how to make jewelry there too, to help pick stuff out. I've never made jewelry, I stick to cloth."

Tommy just nodded. "It doesn't have to be anything special. One I made for Crystal's brithday was originally paper and a button. Yvette's was regular wire and drops of clay." He looked down at his gloved hands. "Doesn't matter what it starts as."

"Sure, but there are all sorts of different shapes and who knows what. It's like lace, there are so many different kinds you never know where to begin. That's what I'm getting, lace & notions for some gloves for her. Practical we've done, now it's fashion," Clarice was fashion obsessed, but she was a harmless fashion bug. Well, mostly harmless. And she loved what Tommy was doing.

"Yeah sure." Tommy said simply. He never really planned what he was doing, he'd rather just look through the things and get ideas from there. It's how he'd come up with the designs of everthing he'd done so far. Plus, it was more stimulating that changing soda cans. "We'll see."

Clarice shrugged, getting Tommy to have a conversation was like pulling teeth, "You could sell your stuff, if you wanted. I bet people would buy it."

His conversational skills were rusty. Really rusty. But he was trying. And he comment earned her a hard look. "Your joking. My stuff is amataur at best, just ways for me to practice."

She shook her head, "No way, you could totally sell it. You have a good eye."

Tommy gave her another look before shrugging. "Maybe. We'll see." He was kind of uncomfortable with the thought. They were just practice and a way to make some people happy. To sell that? He didn't know.

"Something to think about. I played with starting my own clothing line, but I don't think I'm going to do it. I want to make clothing for mutants with physical oddities that prevent them from wearing regular clothing. Not much market, you know? Jewelry is much more marketable and everything," she had a label name picked out, all she'd have to do it file the paperwork, but there was no time with school and going premed meant that there would be even less time. The price she paid for practicality.

He nodded as he listened, though he couldn't help thinking about how he'd had his whole life planned out and now look where that had gone? "Yeah maybe. Right now, I'd like to make something Yvette would like."